Frank Sidebottom

Frank Sidebottom is the stage name and persona of the English comedian and musician Chris Sievey. The character is instantly recognisable by his spherical head (styled like an early Max Fleischer cartoon) - this was initially made from papier-mâché, but later rebuilt out of fibreglass.Citation | last = Ronson | first = Jon | author-link = Jon Ronson | title = Oh blimey! | newspaper = The Guardian | date = May 31 2006 | url = http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1786409,00.html]

Frank, usually dressed in a 1950s-style sharp suit, is portrayed as an aspiring pop star from the village of Timperley near Altrincham, Greater Manchester [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2006/04/24/frank_sidebottom_feature.shtml] . His character is optimistic, enthusiastic and seemingly unaware of his failings. Although seemingly middle-aged, he still lives at home with his mother, to whom he makes frequent references. His mother is apparently unaware of her son's popularity. Frank sometimes has a sidekick in the form of "Little Frank", a hand puppet who is otherwise a perfect copy of Frank.

Comedy character Mrs Merton started out as Frank's sidekick on his radio show "Radio Timperley", and the similarity of the characters is evident, exuding a sense of great ambition which belies a domestic lifestyle in the north of England. Sidebottom's former "Oh Blimey Big Band" members include Mark Radcliffe and Jon Ronson, and his driver was Chris Evans.

History

Frank was first revealed to the world on a 12 inch promotional record which came free with the Chris Sievey-created video game "The Biz" for the ZX Spectrum computer. The Frank Sidebottom character was initially created to be a fan of Sievey's band The Freshies but the popularity of the character led Sievey to focus his output on Frank Sidebottom comedy records, many of which were put out on the 'In Tape' record label of Manchester [http://www.scrawnandlard.co.uk/chronol.htm] and previous to that, the 'Regal Zonophone' label.

He reached cult status in the late eighties/early nineties thanks to extensive touring of the country, and focusing on smaller towns such as St Helens. Performances were often varied from straight forward stand up comedy and featured novelty components such as tombola, and a lot of crowd interaction. Sometimes the show also included lectures. Contrasting against the alternative comedians of the time, Frank Sidebottom comedy was family-friendly, if a little bizarre for some tastes.

Frank also had his own comic strip in the children's weekly comic "Oink!" which was launched around the mid 80s as a rival to "Viz".

Frank was perhaps most popular in the North West region of England, where his success was caught up in that of the Madchester scene, and for a time was a regular on regional ITV station Granada. He even featured as a reporter on its regional news programme, Granada Reports. At one point Frank had his own television show on ITV entitled "Frank Sidebottom's Fantastic Shed Show" [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00004CMKK] . He also made numerous appearances on Channel 4, including the British version of the game show "Remote Control" which was presented by Anthony H Wilson, where each week he would pose "Frank's Fantastic Question" to the contestants [http://www.comedycv.co.uk/franksidebottom/index.htm] .

Along with television, the Frank Sidebottom character also made appearances on radio, on stations such as Manchester station Piccadilly Radio and on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5, alongside Mark and Lard [http://www.themet.biz/news/index.php?p=237] [http://www.scrawnandlard.co.uk/guests.htm#Frank] [http://www.franksworld.co.uk/mt/fw/2007/04/radio_5_live.html] .

Frank sang the Beatles song "Being For the Benefit of Mister Kite" on the charity album "Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father", which featured other acts like Michelle Shocked, The Christians, Sonic Youth, Billy Bragg, Hue and Cry, The Fall and Wet Wet Wet [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/06/are_there_any_good_covers_of_s.html] [http://astore.amazon.co.uk/ukfireservice-21/detail/B00000824Z] .

Frank faded into obscurity in the late nineties, rarely appearing either on TV or live appearances. A one-off performance at Manchester's Club Indigo Vs Manic Street Mania in December 2005 seemed to be the catalyst for an unlikely comeback.

In 2006, Frank reappeared in Greater Manchester on local television channel, Channel M. His new show, "Frank Sidebottom's Proper Telly Show in B/W", features celebrity guests and animation. The first showing of each show is in black and white ("so you don't have to turn the colour down"), whilst subsequent repeats are shown in full colour. He has also made five appearances on Iain Lee's programme on London's LBC as well as on numerous community radio stations.

A recent appearance has been as a "test card" shown late at night on Channel M, where he and Little Frank ramble on and sing songs whilst framed in a parody of the classic "Test Card F". On 6 March 2007, in an episode of "The Podge and Rodge Show", he appeared in their 'Sham-Rock' talent section, performing a medley of songs by The Smiths. He received an overall score of 22 points from judges James Nesbitt and Glenda Gilson, putting him in 1st place for all the series' acts so far.

Frank starred in his own exhibition of drawings, animation and cardboard at London's CHELSEA space gallery next to Tate Britain between 4 July - 4 August 2007. He also appeared at "Late" at Tate Britain on 3 August 2007 [http://www.chelseaspace.org/archive/sidebottom-pr.html] [http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/eventseducation/lateattatebritain/lateattatebritain2007august.htm] [http://www.franksworld.co.uk/mt/fw/2007/06/] .

He appeared in the Christmas special of BBC Scotland's Videogaiden, performing 'Christmas Is Really Fantastic'.

Trivia

*On Saturday 26 May 2007, Frank appeared on the ITV2 show "Greased Lightnin' Results", performing the title track from "Grease"
*In 2005, Frank wrote an episode of Pingu entitled "Bedtime Shadows", available on the DVD "Stinky Pingu."
*In June 2006, Frank was the subject of an exhibition at Tate Britain at which he premièred the first episode of his new animation series "Frank's World."
*His catchphrase is generally a reworking of "You know it is, it really is." and is placed at the end of every song he performs, after which he thanks the listener.
*He appeared in the Peter Kay, Matt Lucas and The Proclaimers Comic Relief Video.
*Frank Sidebottom is referenced as part of the British cultural pantheon and, more importantly, a specifically intoned voice (by anti-hero D.S. Bruce Robertson) in Irvine Welsh's novel Filth.
*Frank made regular appearances on the 80's children's show No. 73 and 90's show "What's Up Doc?"
*In February 2008 he appeared in a TV advert for Safestyle Windows.
*Frank currently works for an international cost consultancy based in Stockton.
*Frank will be guest starring on the short sharp shock 2008 lp entitled the dividing line

References

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/content/articles/2006/02/09/radio_frank_sidebottom_interview_feature.shtml BBC Lancashire interview] with Ted Robbins; Broadcast 9 February 2008; Retrieved 10 April 2008.

External links

* [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1786409,00.html Guardian feature by former Sidebottom keyboard player Jon Ronson]
* [http://www.franksidebottom.co.uk/ Frank Sidebottom site] , run by Frank's official webmaster, Russ.
* [http://www.franksworld.co.uk/ Frank's World] , another official site, ostensibly run by Frank himself.
* [http://www.little-frank.co.uk/ Little Frank's site]
* [http://www.student.brad.ac.uk/alradtke/side1.html The Frank Sidebottom World Wide Shed] , unofficial Frank site, established 1994.
* [http://www.myspace.com/franksidebottom Frank's Myspace] .